Joey Garrison

The Tennessean

Jonathan Martin

The 30-year-old Martin, who has worked at Nashville’s NBC affiliate for the past six years, will host his final newscast for WSMV Sunday at 8 a.m.

In August, Martin will begin work as a national correspondent for Al-Jazeera at a time when the media network is expanding bureaus to a dozen cities in the United States, including Nashville, where it will operate from an office on Church Street downtown.

“I love this community, and I wanted to stay in Nashville but do something else,” Martin said. “This will provide me the opportunity to travel and be a part of something new and building something from the ground up.

Launch set for Aug. 20

The targeted launch for Al-Jazeera America, a new cable network headquartered in New York that intends to focus on U.S. news, is set for Aug. 20.